First Aid Kit - "Ghost Town" (video)

Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Soderberg are still on their way out of their teens, so their music sometimes displays an earnestness that can chafe at those of us who have been around a little bit longer. You know what, though? We need to get pushed off of our crusty “Grampa Simpson” high horses sometimes, and the sympathetic harmonies that kick in about two minutes into “Ghost Town” certainly do the trick. That devastating regret-filled stanza about being left behind in someone’s memory doesn’t hurt, either. Young or old, we’ve all been there before.

Andrew Gilstrap is a freelance writer living in South Carolina, where he's able to endure the few weeks each year that it's actually freezing (swearing a vow that if he ever moves, it'll be even farther south). Aging into a fine curmudgeon whose idea of heaven is 40 tree-covered acres away from the world, he increasingly wishes he were part of a pair of twins, just so he could try being the kinda evil one on for size. Musically, he's always scouring records for that one moment that makes him feel like he's never heard music before, but he long ago realized he needs to keep his copies of John Prine, Crowded House, the Replacements, Kate Bush, and Tom Waits within easy reach.